


But Fate is a Funny Thing

by costcofairy



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Because Theres No Communication, Bitty knows too much, Fate, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Meet-Cute, Misscommunication, Mutual Pining, Pining, Post-Graduation, Ten Years Later, all the pining, technically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 22:02:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13280742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/costcofairy/pseuds/costcofairy
Summary: They don't get together during college.They don't get together after college.But fate is a funny thing...





	But Fate is a Funny Thing

 

They don’t get together in college.

 

Nursey is sure that his crush isn’t one-sided, but they dance through the last few years living together, gazes lingering too long, excuses to find quiet time together, gravitating towards each other before anyone else. He almost says what he’s thinking a few times. He gets as close as taking the breath in, sure he knows what he’s doing but then he looks at Dex.

Dex, the frustratingly handsome best friend he’d never had before. Dex, the ying to his yang, the hand he can always turn to when he needs it. The Dex who makes him wrap sheets and sheets with ink, trying to calm the crazy that red hair, sharp knuckles, and quiet laughter brings out in him.

 

And how could he loose that?

 

He lets out his breath and shakes his head, a situation that occurred more than either of them would admit. They move on with their days, over and over and over until suddenly their finishing finals, graduating, and moving out. Neither of them openly expresses a need to stay together, so they don’t.

Nursey moves out to New York, the promise of a paid internship with a company who’s ethics match up with his own. Dex gets a job in town, working for a branch of a tech company and volunteering with the youth hockey league on the side. Nursey hurts, melancholy that settles into his ribs and his writing so that every interaction they share becomes wrapped in bittersweet thoughts.

 

It comes down to the last day in the haus. Dex is packing the last of his things into his truck as Nursey is putting things in boxes and suitcases, both moving slower than necessary. They work in silent ease as Nursey’s phone drones on some music until Dex is doing his final checks through the room. Dex’s sudden inactivity pulls Nursey out of his folding trance and he looks up, finding Dex staring from the other side of the room, a quizzical look on his face and a light blush low in his cheeks. The look floods the room with weight, pulling the air out of Nursey’s lungs and dragging him onto his feet.

“Derek, I…” Dex begins, but the words seem to get stuck, the use of real names feeling taboo on Nursey’s ears. He sighs and starts again, eyes breaking contact and the blush creeping up his cheeks.

“I… I’m just –” He ran a hand through his hair, his brow creased and then pulled into a quieter expression. Nursey could hardly keep up with all the expressions slipping through, his heart claiming to know what was actually being said, but his brain waiting to hear, waiting for something. Dex shifted his eyes back up to Nursey’s, softer this time,

“I’ve got to head out, but I’m gonna miss you man.”

 

Nursey let go of the breath he didn’t even know he was holding and walked across the room, wrapping Dex into a hug. For once Dex openly hugged back, dropping his chin close to Nursey’s neck. It was as much as either could say – for them, it was all that really could be said, wasn’t it, making decisions without ever uttering the words, both bowing back from that line, walked so fine over the past few years, both just not on the same page. Nursey held on like he was holding the moment together, grasping the time shifting out of his fingers faster than he could catch it. When he broke the hug, he gave a soft smile, savoring the last seconds of this closeness, and gave in. 

“It’s fine, bruh, I’ll see you around.” He gave Dex one final smack on the shoulder and stepped aside so he could walk out, half watching him go, half stopping himself from running out after him. He stood there, on edge, processing, feeling the end of an era close off in his life, the end of, well something.

 

After a long moment, Nursey sighed and rubbed his hands across his face, trying to wipe away the sudden exhaustion and dulling feeling forming behind his breastbone. He walked back over to his suitcase, heavily plopped himself back on the floor, and went back to packing, the room just a little chillier than before.

  

* * *

  

They don’t get together after college.

 

Nursey falls into his work in New York. He loves his internship and they love him enough to turn part-time into full time and keep him on in the company. It keeps him busy and his coworkers keep him entertained, drawing him back into the bustle of city life. When he’s not at work, he processes a novel’s worth of feelings into a draft, trying to write out the dull ache of big emotions. It’s cathartic for a time, until it feels like he’s willing a fate into happening. At that point he puts down the pen and picks up a Tinder.

One year turns into two years. Nursey settles into the routine of young adulthood. He dates a few people, but no one worth keeping around, he keeps up with his old hausmates careers, especially those who stop through the city every once in a while, but Dex is never one of them. While he tells himself that this fact doesn’t bother him, it does. Nursey sometimes catches himself imagining a different ending to their part of the story, musing on calling him up on the long nights when he fills his lungs with smoke and head with dreams, but never does.

Those nights often end with a pen back in his hand, pages on pages added to a draft that will never be published.

           

Two and a half years post graduation, a reunion is pulled together by Bitty; Nursey, for once, is in town because his company is starting a new branch and he’s there to help set up shop. After some prodding as to whom was all going to be there, he finally agrees to show up and walks into a barbecue turned hockey rager. Thanks to Bitty, it’s a great turn out; teammates spanning the last decade show up to the house, toting significant others, family, and even a dog or two.

He’s genuinely happy to see everyone, but is also looking for one specific d-man in the crowd, not that he’d ever admit why.

He gets sucked into Lardo’s latest artistic antics, though he’s been up to date with her comings and goings, as she and Shitty are often in New York. He spends an hour hearing all the news on Whiskey and Tango’s latest international adventures, which are both epic and hard to follow. He’s body tackled by one very excited Chowder who forgets he’s now a NHL hockey player with 20 pounds of muscle on Nursey, but he never sees nor hears about Dex.

Nursey breaks away from the louder part of the party to step out on to the porch for a minute alone. He watches the quieter part of the group congregated out on the lawn, enjoying the familiarity with being somewhere that was once his home when he feels a presence saddle up beside him.

 

“Looking for someone in particular?”

 Nursey snorts into his beer before turning to find a chuckling Bitty, propped up by the rickety handrail, worn and in worse condition than when they all lived there last. He’s flushed with one too many hard lemonades and a knowing smile playing on his lips, a face Nursey was once far too familiar with, obviously enjoying the day he planned so well; Nursey rolls his eyes, “You know, you shouldn’t lean on the railings, I’m sure they haven’t had any attention since the haus had a live in handyman.”

“Speaking of-“ Bitty not so subtly backtracks, ignoring the chirp, “have y’all spoken? He never gave me an answer as to if he was coming today or not. Thought you might know more than I do…”

 Nursey’s smile dropped a little, that was the question he’d been dancing around all day.

 “Ah- no actually. You know Dex, he’s never been good at the communication thing. We haven’t…. you know, really talked a lot since graduation. Different cities and all.” 

“You two are useless, I swear.” Bitty muttered, turning to look out over the back yard. He paused a moment, biting his lip, “He talks about you some times, you know?”

That statement made Nursey’s stomach flip. Oh how his brain would have run with that statement a year ago. He reminded himself that it’s different now. Surely, Bitty wasn’t implying what it sounded like; it just was a friendly thing to do, right?

Nursey pushed his smile back up into place, “We’re busy people, I’m not like, avoiding him or anything, I just…” He shrugged, “you know, haven’t had a minute to call or anything.”

 

He could feel himself avoiding the conversation; it was one he and Bitty had quietly danced through over and over in college, but one that surely wasn’t useful anymore. Dex was off doing other things with his life. If he had wanted anything more, he would have gotten in touch. It wouldn’t have been some heartfelt prose like Nursey had written out over and over and over, but you know, he would have said something. Nursey swirled his beer and took another swig, choosing to look out on the small gathering around the grill on the lawn instead of at Bitty.

Bitty dropped the topic, but not the knowing look, giving Nursey the room to breathe and set aside that train of thought for another time. Nursey let Bitty take over the conversation, moving on to the latest recipes he’d been working on for his new book and the trouble he’d been having with his publisher, but the change in topic didn’t set back the heavy feeling slowly creeping around his ribs.

The party drags on, afternoon lunch turning into bonfire evening. Nursey stifles a yawn or two before begrudgingly admitting defeat, starting his rounds of goodbyes as the sun set. He pushes off Bitty’s whining, “Are you _sure_ you can’t stay a little longer?” and Shitty’s attempt to rope him into “just one more game of beer pong for old times sake,” quoting his early morning the next day at the new office before he sneaks out the front door.

Pulling his coat on, he frowns a little, the dull feeling sitting just a little too familiar to his walk out of the same place a few years before. It felt an awful lot like walking away from a fated future. Nursey attributes it to a sun-bleached day and to leaving the people he cares about so much. He slowly gets back in his car and heads back to his hotel to sleep off the days craziness.

 

He never sees the battered truck pull up the other side of the street just as he pulls out, nor the redhead who hurries into the haus two minutes too late.

 

* * *

  

But fate is a funny thing.

 

It takes three more years for Nursey’s company to decide he’s outgrown his current role in the New York branch. Knowing his roots in Samwell, they offer him the entire editorial department at his disposal with a pay raise and Nursey gleefully accepts the too good to be true offer. He moves into a charming house not too far from work and settles in to his new life.

Nursey doesn’t start until a week or so after he moves, so he spends the time doing something probably a little dangerous: he goes back to all his old haunts. He spends more hours than necessary back at Annie’s, picks over the old local bookstore in town, walks campus just to see what’s changed, even stops in on Faber on a practice day. Logistically, a little voice in the back of his mind knows what, or who, he’s looking for in all these memories, and that fact alone brings back a twinge of that nagging ache in his chest. He hadn’t bothered to call Dex to tell him that he was coming back to town; he didn’t know if Dex was even still here.

 

The ache was different from the first time he carried it, though. Like a limb that had fallen asleep, not quite awake yet, enough to be an annoyance but not quite hurt. He carried more fondness in it now a days, an echoing ‘ _man, we missed’_ instead of the daunting _‘what if’_ of college. Nonetheless, no amount of new books or soy lavender lattes seems to eradicate the nagging feeling. After a night up far too late trying in vain to smoke it away – which had backfired terrifically and ended with him rereading his old writings, making it worse instead of better – Nursey wakes up hours later than he usually does.

He lies in bed, indulging himself in a good old bout of pity at his self-inflicted frustration. Dex didn’t owe him anything; in fact, he was probably out happily living his life while Nursey was the one here pining away at an old college friend. It’d been nearly a decade, it was due time for Nursey to move on. With a sigh, he pulls himself out of bed and into some old workout clothes. If he can’t wallow out the pity, maybe he can sweat it out.

Nursey takes his sweet time, reveling in his ability to do just that. He dawdles at the lake, watching the ducks enjoy their morning off too, before making his way to the gym. It’s always been therapeutic for him, the ability for him to turn off his brain and rely on muscle memory, and today is no different. He works through a long cardio set, doubled up with a music led yoga session, staying longer than necessary. Nearly three hours later, he finally is starting to feel a little more himself; Nursey gathers his things, refills his water bottle, and starts to the door for his quiet walk back home – of course changing the route so he can get a stupidly sweet coffee – when a familiar flash of red walks in the door. Dex.

 

Or, at least he’s pretty sure its Dex, if a softer man had replaced him. He looked less sharp than he had in college, hair grown longer to a stylish wave framing his face and a calmness settled in his shoulders as he easily greeted the man behind the desk. Nursey slowed to a stop, jaw hanging lightly agog, torn between running and disappearing into the floor when Dex finally looks up and sees,

“Derek?” Dex questions, eyebrows quirking with surprise. He too looked like he wasn’t sure it was actually Nursey he was seeing.

Nursey’s chest squeezed at that. First names between them still felt so intimate, he wasn’t sure that was ever going to change. A smile formed on his face the same speed as a light blush, a little embarrassed to be caught in such a state, “Hey there, its – ah – its been a minute.”

Dex snorted, “Uh yeah, understatement of the year I’d say.”

Dex crossed to him and stopped just out of arms reach. He quietly looked at Nursey for a minute, but his gaze was not piercing, a new look for the Dex Nursey remembered. It was oddly calming to be under this gaze, a gaze with no bite or intent behind it. Looking just to see. Nursey traced the openness down to Dex’s mouth to see a playful grin hinting at his lips. Dex sucked in a breath, “How a—um… what are you doing here?”

“Oh well, it’s a gym so I was working out.”

“Okay, chirp chirp,” Dex rolled his eyes, “I meant what are you doing here? In town?”

Nursey shifted his bag, “Promotion. I’m gonna be running the editorial branch of my publishing company out here, it’s a nice step up.”

“Well holy shit, you’ve gone and got yourself a real career there now.” Dex’s smile had softened now, his unwavering attention on Nursey.

Nursey laughed and blushed harder under Dex’s gaze, “Yeah well, had to happen eventually. What have you been up to?”

Dex’s eyebrows jumped, his smile fell a little as his gaze swept over Nursey’s face. He gave a small half shrug, an old nervous habit that Nursey recognized from their college years. “Its… there’s a lot since, you know, we last really talked…”

Nursey gave a hum of agreement at that.

“But, ah lately,” Dex continued, “I’ve been coaching? The junior league out here, it’s a load of fun.”

“Dude—Will,” he said, softer than before, the name heavy on his tongue, “That’s dope, I’m glad you enjoy it.”

Dex’s eyes flicked back to Nursey’s, he gave a half smile, “That’s doooope” he mused.

Nursey gave him a look, “Okay, now whose chirping?”

“You’re the English guy!” 

“You’ve got shit comebacks!” Nursey countered, laughing exasperatedly.

Dex grinned at that one, eyes glancing down to Nursey’s lips, “Yeah, well, some things never change.” His gaze stilled again, something working behind his eyes.

 

That was new. That was a serious sentence, from Dex. Nursey bit his lip; he wasn’t sure what to think of that. He knew what he wanted to think of that, but time had passed, things surely had changed, right? He sighed, not wanting to get even the smallest of hopes up. He had a novel’s worth of feelings on that subject. It hadn’t happened once, what would make now any different?

 

“Well,” Nursey started, unsure what to do next, “I guess I should, you know, let you do what you came here to do.”

Dex softened, “Yeah, I guess so.”

Nursey half reached out, for a hug or a hand shake, he wasn’t sure, but he stopped: he wasn’t sure that would be welcome, it’d been nearly a decade since they last saw each other for gods sake. Instead, he smiled,

“It’s fine, I’ll see you around, yeah?”

Dex tensed, his gaze snapping back up from Nursey’s hand to his eyes. He opened his mouth but nothing came out, brow furrowing. He closed it again and gave a curt nod, “Yeah, Nurse, I’ll see you later.”

Dex took a step back to let Nursey pass. Nursey gave a small smile, but he noticed the obvious change in Dex’s demeanor. He walked past Dex and pushed open the door, giving a glance back as he went.

Dex was still standing in the lobby, watching Nursey go; there was a small frown on his face. Nursey’s stomach flipped, it felt all too familiar. He walked down the steps, but then slowed, they’d done this before, almost saying what they want, almost having a real conversation, but not quite getting to the point. Nursey gave a deprecating laugh, god what he would have said if he had run into Dex like this a year or two after college, what he would have said even at the haus reunion after a beer or two. He didn’t think it was a conversation that would be welcome any more, to bring up the conversations they should have had, to actually talk—

 

“Derek!”

Nursey was pulled out of his thoughts and whipped around to see Dex bounding down the stairs out after him.

“Derek—“ he started again once he screeched to a halt in front of Nursey, “I can’t let myself, I mean, Jesus, talk about second fucking chances, right? What I would have given for just a fucking ounce of courage—“ Dex laughs hurriedly. He raked a hand through his hair, making the ends stick out a bit too much and sighed.

“Come get a drink with me.”

 

Nursey blinked at him. He didn’t follow any of that. “What?”

“Jesus, Nurse—Derek, you realize that was almost word for word how I walked away from you last time? I couldn’t… not ag—ugh” He scrubbed his hands over his face, slowly loosing his calmer exterior he was exuding earlier. He took a breath and started again, “I’m still not good at this – fuck, that’s kind of obvious – but Derek, can we try again? Get a drink with me, as a… you know, like romantic…” he trickled off, “… date.”

Maybe Nursey got hit by a truck. Maybe he fell down the stairs and knocked himself out and this is all a too good to be true fever dream, because Will fucking Poindexter admitting, not only that he has feelings, but that he had – or maybe, still has? – some sort of feelings toward Nursey? That’s…

Nursey looked at Dex, the light behind his eyes, the plea written into his light wrinkles, the muss of his hair, now sticking out in four directions, and smiled.

 

That’s oh so good.

“Will, I would—yes. Please. I would love to.” Nursey felt a flutter in his chest, but a new one. Gone was the dull thud behind his ribs; gone was the heavy feeling in his bones. Instead rose a light feeling: a knowledge of what could be, a feeling of finally, maybe, being on the same page with Dex.

“Okay.” Dex said, a slow grin spreading across his features, his eyes lighting up to almost gold, “All right.”

 

And it was. It finally was.

  

**Author's Note:**

> First off, thank you so much for reading!! The outpouring of love from y'all literally makes me so happy and excited to share more. Bless all of you who have commented and kudoed becuase you are the backbone of my LIFE. 
> 
> This is my first real venture off into longer form writing as a part of my Try New Things 2k18 initiative. I had a lot of struggles and fun doing this, so maybe with practice more will come. 
> 
> This is an expansion off a headcannon ten sentence nothing I wrote a few weeks ago because I have no chill.  
> (Also potentially an epilogue, who even knows any more)
> 
> Follow me here or on tumblr by the same name.


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